Voices of Youth Roundtable

Stephen Krashen

Stephen Krashen is one the forefathers in ESL education and his work has been studied in universities since it was hot off the presses, right along with Chomsky and Skinner. This video shows the importance of using SIOP components and makes the audience think of how instructional models should be used (at least it made me think of how explicit instruction is being used all wrong in some schools with ELLs). Though riddled with charming 1980s awkwardness, this video sums up the foundation of language learning.

Take a look at the 1980's superhero of SLA:

Sand Letters

We all know kindergarten is the perfect time to learn letters, but this activity is fun and engaging for all students to practice gross motor skills and letter formation! Keeping learning light and enjoyable encourages not only content knowledge growth, but language development as well. Try this out!

Have a couple old baking sheets? (I went to thrift stores and the local dollar store!)

Have some cheap spray paint and a flat surface?

Paint front and back...

Add sand or shaving cream to the pans -- not too much! Just enough for students to be able to see the color show through. 

Have fun!

Thanks to Kim Parzymieso for the great idea!!